Department of Health and Social Care

NHS Industrial Action Update

Steve Barclay: Yesterday evening NHS England published data about the impact of a 96-hour strike by junior doctors from 0700 on Tuesday 11 April to 0659 on Saturday 15 April.It is regrettable that the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, HCSA, and BDA hospital trainees chose to cause maximum disruption to NHS services by staging such a long walk out with no national derogations immediately after the Easter bank holiday.I would like to thank all those NHS staff, including nurses and consultants, who went above and beyond to provide cover last week and ensure patient safety.Our priority is always to keep patients safe during any industrial action. The NHS makes every effort through rigorous contingency planning to minimise disruption and its impact on patients and the public during industrial action. The NHS rightly prioritised resources to protect emergency and critical care, maternity care and, where possible, continued to prioritise patients who have waited the longest for elective care and cancer surgery. Where necessary, Trusts cancelled non-urgent appointments to prioritise urgent and emergency care.  The data published last night shows that around 196,000 appointments were rescheduled due to strike action, with around 5,000 in mental health and community appointments. On average, around 26,000 junior doctors were absent each day. The data can be found at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/preparedness-for-potential-industrial-action-in-the-nhs/#heading-3. These figures are subject to change as not all Trusts have submitted data yet and hence, data is incomplete.Through the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill we intend to legislate across different sectors, that will enable people to continue to attend their place of work, access education and healthcare, and go about their daily lives during strikes, whilst balancing this against the ability to strike. We are already consulting on whether minimum service levels should be in place for ambulance services. Given that increasingly strike action is being taken without voluntary derogations being agreed, we will now consider whether we need to consult on additional minimum service levels covering a wider range of health services to protect the lives and health of the public.

Treasury

Office of Financial Sanctions Update

James Cartlidge: My noble friend the Treasury Lords Minister (Baroness Penn) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement. On the 18th April, the UK announced a sanctions designation under the Counter Terrorism (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. This regime is used to target those involved in terrorist financing on UK soil and is the first use of HM Treasury’s sanctions power. Today’s designation imposes an asset freeze on an individual suspected of being associated with financing Hizballah. This action demonstrates that the UK is prepared, and will continue to take action, to proactively defend the UK economy against terrorist financing threats, prevent terrorism in the UK and protect UK national security interests. The specific designation is: Nazem Ahmad – Suspected Hizballah financier who has control over White Starr DMCC, Bexley Way General Trading LLC, Best Diamond House DMCC, Sierra Gem Diamonds Company NV, Park Ventures SAL and the Artual Gallery.

Tax Administration and Maintenance Day

Victoria Atkins: At Spring Budget 2023, the government announced that it would bring forward a further set of tax administration and maintenance announcements at a Tax Administration and Maintenance Day. I am pleased to confirm that the government will set out these announcements on 27th April. This will outline the action the government is taking to simplify the tax system, tackle the tax gap and modernise the tax system.

Home Office

Legislative proposals to tackle the use of machetes and other knives in crime

Chris Philp: The Government is today launching a 7-week consultation on new knife legislation proposals to tackle the use of machetes and other bladed articles in crime. There are already strict controls on particular offensive weapons, including certain types of knives, which are listed in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988. It is an offence to sell, manufacture, hire, loan or gift these weapons. This offence is in addition to the general offences of possessing a knife or offensive weapon in public or on school grounds. In England and Wales, there are twenty different weapons listed as offensive weapons and they include items such as the “belt buckle knife”, “butterfly knife” and “push dagger”. There are also similar prohibitions in respect of “flick knives” and “gravity knives” in section 1 of the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959. In August 2016, we added “zombie knives” to this list as we were concerned that such knives had no legitimate use and were designed to look menacing, intimidate and encourage violence. In 2019, we added “cyclone knives” to the list. We are consulting on legislative measures to provide the police with more tools to disrupt knife possession and tackle knife crime. We have identified certain types of machetes and large outdoor knives that do not seem to have a practical use and appear to be designed to look menacing and be favoured by those who want to use these knives as weapons. We intend to include them in the list of prohibited offensive weapons set out in the schedule to The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988. Weapons listed in this schedule are prohibited under s141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. This would mean that the manufacture, importation, sale and supply of these items would be an offence. Possession, both in public and in private, would also be an offence, unless a defence applies. We are inviting views from respondents on the finer details of the description of the items we intend to ban. We are also consulting on whether to provide the police with additional powers to enable them to seize, retain and destroy bladed articles of any length held in private, or whether the powers should be limited to articles of a certain length, even if the items themselves are not prohibited. We consider it a proportionate response for the police, where they are in private property lawfully, to seize, retain and eventually destroy bladed articles if they have good reason to believe they will be used in crime. We would like to test this proposal with stakeholders and other members of the public so that we ensure that the most effective but proportionate system is put in place. In addition, we are consulting on whether there is a need for the Government to toughen the current penalties for selling prohibited offensive weapons and selling bladed articles to persons under 18, and on whether the Criminal Justice System should treat carrying prohibited knives and offensive weapons in public more seriously to better reflect the severity of the offences. Finally, we are consulting on whether it would be appropriate to mirror firearms legislation and introduce a separate possession offence of knives and offensive weapons with intent to injure or cause fear of violence. This would carry a maximum penalty higher than the current offence of possession of an offensive weapon in public under s1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 (the PCA). In summary, we are seeking views on the following proposals: Proposal 1: Introduction of a targeted ban of certain types of large knives that seem to be designed to look menacing with no practical purpose. Proposal 2: Whether additional powers should be given to the police to seize, retain and destroy lawfully held bladed articles of a certain length if these are found by the police when in private property lawfully and they have reasonable grounds to believe that the article(s) is likely to be used in a criminal act. Proposal 3: Whether there is a need to increase the maximum penalty for the importation, manufacture, sale and supply of prohibited offensive weapons (s141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and s1 Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959) and the offence of selling bladed articles to persons under 18 (s141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988) to 2 years, to reflect the severity of these offences. Proposal 4: Whether the Criminal Justice System should treat possession in public of prohibited knives and offensive weapons more seriously. Proposal 5: Whether there is a need for a separate possession offence of bladed articles with the intention to injure or cause fear of violence with a maximum penalty higher than the current offence of possession of an offensive weapon under s1 of the PCA 1953. The consultation will be live from 18 April to 06 June 2023 and a response will be published in summer 2023. We intend to make any changes related to the consultation as soon as parliamentary time allows thereafter. Knife crime causes misery and fear in our communities, which is why this Government has taken concerted action to tackle it. We are pursuing a twin-track approach combining tough enforcement with prevention and intervention as we relentlessly bear down on violent crime. The results are clear to see. Since 2010 violent crime has reduced by 38%, according to the crime survey of England & Wales. A copy of the consultation document and the accompanying impact assessment will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and published on Gov.UK.

Independent Review of the Disclosure and Barring Regime

Miss Sarah Dines: I am pleased to announce that the Government is today publishing the report of the independent review of the disclosure and barring regime, led by Simon Bailey. As part of the Government’s strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, the Home Office commissioned Simon Bailey, former chief constable of Norfolk Constabulary and National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection and abuse investigation, to carry out a review of the disclosure and barring regime, to provide assurance on its effectiveness in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. This review has now been completed. I would like to express my thanks to Mr Bailey and to Stephen Linehan KC who supported him throughout. I am also grateful to the many individuals and organisations who contributed their experience and expertise to the work of the review. Mr Bailey concludes that the disclosure and barring regime is delivering its mission of helping employers and organisations to make safer employment decisions but he identifies several areas where the regime could be strengthened. He makes nine recommendations, which the Government will now carefully consider. I will place a copy of the report in the Libraries of both Houses.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Digital Infrastructure Update

Julia Lopez: The Prime Minister has set out his Five Priorities for this government – halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, cutting waiting lists and stopping the boats. These can only be delivered with world-class digital infrastructure which will support growth and help transform delivery of public services. We are currently connecting the UK at breakneck speed, from rural villages to major cities, no area will be left behind. This underpins my department's mission to put the UK at the forefront of global scientific and technological advancement, with future telecoms one of the five critical technologies in our new Science and Technology Framework.In the last five years, impressive progress has been made in the deployment of the very best fixed and wireless networks across the whole of the UK. This includes:Project Gigabit, through which we are investing £5 billion in gigabit broadband networks, with an ambition to get gigabit broadband to at least 85% of premises by 2025 and over 99% by 2030;Our £1 billion Shared Rural Network programme, through which we are supporting rural communities, will ensure that 95% of the UK’s landmass has 4G coverage by 2025. This currently stands at 92%;Substantial progress with 5G. Last year, we met our ambition five years ahead of schedule for the majority of the population to have access to a 5G signal by 2027 through the deployment of basic, non-standalone 5G using existing 4G networks to deliver increased network capacity; andThe steps we have taken to strengthen the security of our networks and diversify supply chains through the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 and the 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy. This connectivity has already brought benefits for UK households and businesses, boosting growth, productivity, and opportunity for all. We are on the brink of a new technological revolution. We need to make sure everyone in the country - no matter where they live – gets the chance to benefit from all the opportunities of the modern world.We have now set out a new package of measures to drive the deployment and adoption of digital networks and to invest in the next generation of connectivity.Wireless Infrastructure StrategyThe Wireless Infrastructure Strategy reaffirms our commitment to extending 4G coverage to 95% of the population, and sets out the improvements we want to see in the accuracy of Ofcom’s coverage reporting, so that any gaps in coverage are identified. We also set a new goal to blanket the country with the fastest, most reliable wireless coverage available – with an ambition for all populated areas to be covered by ‘standalone’ 5G by 2030. Standalone 5G will offer significantly superior performance to current 5G networks which are built on a 4G core – with up to 10 times faster reaction speeds (latency) and three times faster download speeds.To support this, we are taking steps to create an environment to encourage commercial investment in advanced wireless networks by mobile network operators and other providers of wireless connectivity by reducing deployment costs, increasing revenues, and ensuring that regulation is not a barrier to innovation.At the local level, we are taking steps to support local areas to attract commercial investment in 5G networks and encourage adoption of 5G-enabled technology – ranging from everything to ‘agri-tech’ that improves yields for farmers, to next-generation healthcare equipment. This includes a new £40 million fund to drive take up of innovative 5G-enabled services for businesses and the public sector, and an ambition that our new hospitals should be 5G or equivalent wireless enabled.This will unlock new technologies that will change our lives and the way businesses operate, at a time when the connectivity we depend on is significantly evolving and is woven further into the lives of us all: from driverless vehicles, drones and robots on the factory floor to making our cities smarter, cleaner, and less congested.Our 6G Strategy details how we will work to shape this next generation of telecoms to ensure it helps to address some of the biggest challenges of our time, delivers for people and businesses right across the UK.Future TelecomsHowever, this is not a government that is purely focussed on the here and now. We are taking direct action that will improve the lives of the next generation of Britons, ensuring that we are not just following other nations, but leading the way in the telecoms technologies that will shape the lives of our children and grandchildren.That is why we have also set a new long-term national mission to ensure the UK is at the leading-edge of future telecoms research and development, with up to £100 million of funding initially committed to shape and drive future telecoms research and influence global 6G standards-setting.The UK will work closely with allies to deliver this mission - ensuring we are influential in shaping the global landscape, embedding our values into future telecoms technology, and protecting our security interests.Spectrum StatementAs spectrum has become more critical to UK strategic priorities, from communications and broadcasting to space and defence, my department has also published a Spectrum Statement to ensure that we have the right policy framework in place to maximise the overall value of spectrum to the UK while supporting wider policy objectives.This sets out a new strategic vision and principles for spectrum policy, with a focus on innovation in the use and management of spectrum to create greater opportunities for growth and societal benefits through increased access to spectrum.It also outlines the arrangements in place to support effective cross-government working and engagement with Ofcom on spectrum matters, including international representation and our work towards a new framework for public sector spectrum use.Support for the most remote premisesThe Government is committed to delivering gigabit capable connectivity to 85% of the UK by 2025 and nationwide by 2030. However, for a small number of premises this is unlikely to be possible due to their remote nature, often in areas where the geography makes delivery challenging.However, this government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of where they live, is part of the journey toward a fully connected UK. There is a huge amount of potential and talent in rural areas that can be unlocked by connecting communities to telecoms and broadband services.In order to help facilitate this, my department has announced an £8 million fund to provide an initial wave of capital grants for new low earth orbit satellite connectivity to the most remote 35,000 premises where we know that suppliers will be unable to provide either gigabit capable or terrestrial fixed wireless connectivity.Further details on the value of the grants, which premises will be able to apply for the scheme and how they can apply will be released in due course. For those very hard to reach premises where we believe that Fixed Wireless Access connectivity will be possible, we will bring forward additional policy measures later this year on how we expect to see these premises benefiting from Fixed Wireless Access networks.Street WorksOn the path to achieving these stretching targets, we continue to explore ways to make commercial rollout easier. That’s why we are working with local authorities and the telecoms industry to further trial the use of flexible street works permits in a number of counties. If successful, flexi permits could help the roll-out of broadband, especially in rural areas.Alongside these trials, we have launched the pioneering National Underground Asset Register, which will help improve planning and safety of street works – reducing cost, time and disruption.Overall, this represents £150 million in new funding for telecoms innovation and R&D and to support our most remote communities to access high speed broadband. These measures will underpin the delivery of key Government objectives, including the delivery of the Digital Strategy, supporting our levelling up ambitions, and ensuring that the UK is at the forefront of science, technology and innovation. They will also enable the UK to remain one of the best places in the world to live and do business.I will deposit copies of the Wireless Infrastructure Strategy and the Spectrum Statement in both Libraries of the House.